One of the comments at that Tesla fantasy fan site I remember, slammed Einstein, not by any mathematical arguments or arguments based in physics but because "if it wasn't for Tesla we'd be reading Einstein's theory by candle light". Apparently the dim wit didn't realize that many cities had been wired for electricity by direct current before Tesla got them to switch to AC power. And, apparently, by extension, that argument would mean that all of physics done by candle and, more likely as the 19th century drew to a close and moved into the 20th century, by lamp light, had to give way under the mighty Tesla - or, rather, the pop-informed cartoon of him that is what most people mean when they talk about Tesla online.
I wonder if that would include the work of Maxwell and Faraday, without whom Tesla would still be playing with Leyden jars.
For the record, I doubt the dimwit who made that comment could manage the equations in the first chapter of most physics texts of any value.
I could write a piece tying this in with the quote from Hans Kung about the reality of things desired, or their unreality. But I'm procrastinating, there are weeds to be weeded.
Tesla was a great, if erratic, engineer who is a good example of how a genius in one field is a total boob if they bloviate and opinionate outside of their specialty. Some scientists, some very great, indeed, are wise enough to avoid doing that. Many aren't.
Update On More Recent Hate: The cult of Mac over PCs is emblematic of a. the cargo-cult that secular modernism is, b. the triumph of PR over knowledge and experience (those suckers going back to the "genius bar" over and over again to buy crap that is not only many times more expensive but less durable or repairable have to count as some of our most credulous dopes, today) and c. the desire of so many of them to have an all powerful, Mr. Wizard daddy figure in their lives. Steve Jobs was a con-man who was a piece of shit in real life and one of the all time crappy dads. Grow up.
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